Where are you getting this propaganda from? Jesus fucking Christ. You are one creepy ass racist. You can’t lie this much without knowing what you are doing. Yuo are defending Australian weapon manufacturers. And claiming that my opposition this is somehow in opposition to the people of Yemen? You are super creepy. . [Edited 11/4/18 5:00am]

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This is a lie - What I said was Australia is not responsible for Saudi Arabia using weapons from other countries to attack the Yememi people.

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) victory in the October 15 elections for state governors is a major blow to the country’s right-wing opposition, as well as to its backers in Washington and Europe.

The victory also marks a significant step forward in the struggle to defend the gains of the almost two decade-long pro-poor Bolivarian Revolution, spearheaded by late former President Hugo Chavez.

According to results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE), the PSUV, led by President Nicolas Maduro, won 18 of 23 state governorships in the nationwide elections (compared to the 20 it won in the 2012 elections).

Overall, the PSUV lost five states it previously held but picking up three that were held by the opposition. The widely expected swing to the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) failed to materialise.

CNE President Tibisay Lucena announced on election night that 61.14% of Venezuela's 18-million-strong electorate had participated in the vote, the second-highest participation rate for any regional elections in the country.

Reporting on the elections for Venezueanalysis.com the following day, Lucas Koerner wrote: "The result defied forecasts of high abstention fuelled by the current economic crisis, as well as polls showing dissatisfaction with the leadership of both the government and political opposition."

"The PSUV won 54% of the total vote, marking a significant recovery since the ruling party's landslide defeat in the 2015 parliamentary elections when it garnered only 43.7% of the vote.

“The pro-government upswing follows on the heels of the July 30 National Constituent Assembly (ANC) elections, which saw over eight million people turn out to vote amid deadly opposition protests and escalating US pressure."

The success of the ANC elections, in the face of condemnation by Western leaders and the international corporate media, as well as violent protests by semi-fascist sections of the Venezuelan opposition, was a turning point in the class war being fought out in Venezuela at present.

It represented a declaration by ordinary Venezuelan people that they are willing to stand up and defend the social gains of the Bolivarian Revolution, which include free health care, education, public housing, social welfare and a deep process of people’s empowerment through active grassroots participation in decision-making.

It was also a further move in the direction of Chavez's goal of building a bottom-up "communal state" based on grassroots democracy and people’s participation, in opposition to the existing capitalist state bureaucracy.

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

Over the last four months, hardly a day has gone by without news coverage of the political and economic crisis in Venezuela. At least 124 people have been killed, some by security forces, while participating in or accidentally encountering opposition-led street demonstrations.

The mainstream media narrative is of an increasingly authoritarian government repressing a series of popular uprisings in a desperate bid to hold onto power. Political leaders in the UK, the US and other countries warn that President Nicolás Maduro is turning into a dictator.

But little has been said about the reported 49% to 80% of Venezuelans, both pro- and anti-Maduro, who are “in disagreement” with the radical opposition’s use of violence as a political tool. Not all who oppose Maduro support the radical opposition or want them in power.

While acknowledging that Venezuela’s political unrest “remains mostly confined to middle-class enclaves”, the authors of an article published in the Wall Street Journal suggested that many “poor Venezuelans” are just “too hungry” to march. But rejection of the radical opposition goes far deeper than this. It is rooted in profound historical concerns, not just political and economic, but also racial and cultural.

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

As a poor LGBT POC person in western society I know that unless I bend over and spread my arse cheeks like Ghandi that I won’t be respected.
And If I stand up and raise my fist, literally or proverbially and say “leave me alone and don’t you dare touch me” like Malcolm X that I will be vilified.
I’m ok with that.

.[Edited 11/4/18 8:19am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

Australian firms have secured contracts to supply military equipment to Saudi Arabia, an autocracy accused of ongoing war crimes in a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 civilians.

Defence has approved four military exports to the kingdom in the past year and the Australian government has led the push for more.

But the government is refusing to release details of the approved military sales, citing commercial-in-confidence rules.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne visited Riyadh in December to promote Australian materiel to senior government figures including Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah al-Saud, the head of the National Guard.

The minister received a very positive reception, as did the business representatives who visited," a spokeswoman for Mr Pyne said.

The pitch to sell more to the world's biggest buyer of arms comes after the Dutch parliament voted last year to ban military exports to Saudi Arabia on humanitarian grounds.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Arab states on a bombing campaign in Yemen's north against Houthi rebels, which overthrew the government and have been labelled proxy fighters for Iran.

.[Edited 11/4/18 8:55am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

Australia selling military equipment to Saudi Arabia during brutal Yemen conflicthttps://www.google.com.au...v5k7o.html Australian firms have secured contracts to supply military equipment to Saudi Arabia, an autocracy accused of ongoing war crimes in a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 civilians. Defence has approved four military exports to the kingdom in the past year and the Australian government has led the push for more. But the government is refusing to release details of the approved military sales, citing commercial-in-confidence rules. Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne visited Riyadh in December to promote Australian materiel to senior government figures including Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah al-Saud, the head of the National Guard. The minister received a very positive reception, as did the business representatives who visited," a spokeswoman for Mr Pyne said. The pitch to sell more to the world's biggest buyer of arms comes after the Dutch parliament voted last year to ban military exports to Saudi Arabia on humanitarian grounds. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Arab states on a bombing campaign in Yemen's north against Houthi rebels, which overthrew the government and have been labelled proxy fighters for Iran. . [Edited 11/4/18 8:55am]

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You already posted about this 2017 news - You missed this bit:

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Australia has called for a ceasefire but neither Mr Pyne nor Foreign Minister Julie Bishop would comment on Saudi Arabia's use of force.

Mr Pyne said military export applications were subject to "strict controls" and assessed against five criteria: international obligations, national security, human rights, regional security and foreign policy.

Mr Pyne would not comment on the value of materiel exports to Saudi Arabia or say whether the market was growing. He declined to name which businesses accompanied him to Riyadh.

The shipbuilder Austal told Fairfax Media it joined the trip and had held preliminary talks about providing Saudi Arabia with high-speed support vessels. Thales Australia would not comment on whether it attended or exports to the country.

Lowy Institute research fellow Rodger Shanahan said if Australia were to expand exports to Saudi Arabia, it should focus on defensive equipment rather than munitions that could be misused.

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It is all your assumption that equipment from Australia is being used to attack Yemen. As I previously said in an ideal world there would be no defence equipment trade and other than some small munitions, Australia's defence equipment is defensive things rather than offensive things.

Not only are Australian weapons manufacturers cashing in on the Yemen Holocaust.
The Australian navy military is actually assisting Saudi Arabia to carry out the bloackade.
Yemen is not trying to invade Australia.
No country has tried to invade Australia since the British hundreds of years ago.
So what threat exactly do the people of Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan or Africa pose to Australian National Security?
None. It is protecting Australian financial interests and investments globally and not national security.
Using national security as an excuse to deploy armed forces to protect thier corporate interests and investment overseas.
Another reason why capitalism sucks.

“We are in no way involved in that process,” Payne told the Senate. She said naval cooperation in mid-August with Saudi Arabia happened “opportunistically”.

But the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the material obtained under an order of production for documents showed that the “defence minister was being way too cute with the truth about the Australian navy conducting an operation with the Saudi navy on an opportunity basis”

One of the briefing notes suggests a Saudi commander “repeatedly voiced his interest in more cooperation with Australian naval vessels in the area” and Australia suggested it could provide embedded staff.

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A controversial Australian naval exercise conducted with Saudi Arabia’s navy in the midst of the blockade of Yemen may be the beginning of more joint exercises between the two militaries, the Greens have warned.

Documents relating to a joint training exercise conducted on 14 August linked to Operation Manitou, a longstanding joint military operation in the Middle East, show the exercise was planned rather than occurring “opportunistically”, as Australia’s defence minister had claimed, the Greens say.

The Royal Australian Navy held training exercises with its Saudi Arabian counterpart near where a Saudi-led coalition is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen – a move criticised by Human Rights Watch and other aid groups.

With the humanitarian catastrophe escalating in Yemen, world leaders, including the US president, Donald Trump, have called for the blockade to be lifted.

The United Nations has described the closure of aid channels as “catastrophic”.

Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has said the Turnbull government is “deeply concerned” about the deteriorating conditions in Yemen, and has called “on all sides to allow unimpeded humanitarian access” to the country.

Asked about the joint exercises, Australia’s defence minister, Marise Payne, said Australia’s contribution to maritime security in the Middle East did not include any enforcement of the blockade on Yemen.

We are in no way involved in that process,” Payne told the Senate. She said naval cooperation in mid-August with Saudi Arabia happened “opportunistically”.

But the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the material obtained under an order of production for documents showed that the “defence minister was being way too cute with the truth about the Australian navy conducting an operation with the Saudi navy on an opportunity basis”.

“The minister made it out as if these were two ships who passed in the night and decided to have a sleepover, rather than a carefully considered and prepared plan to undertake a joint military exercise,” he said.

He said the exercise should not have happened. “It beggars belief the navy didn’t think this would have any negative public relations blowback given the UN statements on the Saudi naval blockade, and global concern over potentially the worst humanitarian crisis since 1945.”

The documents are heavily redacted, but the small non-redacted sections suggest Saudi Arabia and Australia are interested in further naval cooperation, including embedding staff.

The documents confirm that on 14 August the guided-missile frigate HMAS Newcastle conducted a joint exercise with HMS Boraida of the Royal Saudi Navy off the Saudi port of Jeddah in the Red Sea.

The exercise consisted of “a boarding serial, some basic officer of the watch manoeuvres and replenishment approaches before both ships departed and proceeded independently”.

The material says both units were “keen for the interaction” and indications from Saudi Arabia were that the navy would be keen for further exercises “should units be passing through the region in the future”.

One of the briefing notes suggests a Saudi commander “repeatedly voiced his interest in more cooperation with Australian naval vessels in the area” and Australia suggested it could provide embedded staff.

.[Edited 11/4/18 23:59pm]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

Not only are Australian weapons manufacturers cashing in on the Yemen Holocaust. The Australian navy military is actually assisting Saudi Arabia to carry out the bloackade. Yemen is not trying to invade Australia. No country has tried to invade Australia since the British hundreds of years ago. So what threat exactly do the people of Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan or Africa pose to Australian National Security? None. It is protecting Australian financial interests and investments globally and not national security. Using national security as an excuse to deploy armed forces to protect thier corporate interests and investment overseas. Another reason why capitalism sucks. Greens warn about Australia’s joint exercise with Saudi navy near Yemenhttps://www.google.com.au...near-yemen

“We are in no way involved in that process,” Payne told the Senate. She said naval cooperation in mid-August with Saudi Arabia happened “opportunistically”. But the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the material obtained under an order of production for documents showed that the “defence minister was being way too cute with the truth about the Australian navy conducting an operation with the Saudi navy on an opportunity basis” One of the briefing notes suggests a Saudi commander “repeatedly voiced his interest in more cooperation with Australian naval vessels in the area” and Australia suggested it could provide embedded staff. .

A controversial Australian naval exercise conducted with Saudi Arabia’s navy in the midst of the blockade of Yemen may be the beginning of more joint exercises between the two militaries, the Greens have warned. Documents relating to a joint training exercise conducted on 14 August linked to Operation Manitou, a longstanding joint military operation in the Middle East, show the exercise was planned rather than occurring “opportunistically”, as Australia’s defence minister had claimed, the Greens say. The Royal Australian Navy held training exercises with its Saudi Arabian counterpart near where a Saudi-led coalition is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen – a move criticised by Human Rights Watch and other aid groups. With the humanitarian catastrophe escalating in Yemen, world leaders, including the US president, Donald Trump, have called for the blockade to be lifted. The United Nations has described the closure of aid channels as “catastrophic”. Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has said the Turnbull government is “deeply concerned” about the deteriorating conditions in Yemen, and has called “on all sides to allow unimpeded humanitarian access” to the country. Asked about the joint exercises, Australia’s defence minister, Marise Payne, said Australia’s contribution to maritime security in the Middle East did not include any enforcement of the blockade on Yemen. We are in no way involved in that process,” Payne told the Senate. She said naval cooperation in mid-August with Saudi Arabia happened “opportunistically”. But the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the material obtained under an order of production for documents showed that the “defence minister was being way too cute with the truth about the Australian navy conducting an operation with the Saudi navy on an opportunity basis”. “The minister made it out as if these were two ships who passed in the night and decided to have a sleepover, rather than a carefully considered and prepared plan to undertake a joint military exercise,” he said. He said the exercise should not have happened. “It beggars belief the navy didn’t think this would have any negative public relations blowback given the UN statements on the Saudi naval blockade, and global concern over potentially the worst humanitarian crisis since 1945.” The documents are heavily redacted, but the small non-redacted sections suggest Saudi Arabia and Australia are interested in further naval cooperation, including embedding staff. The documents confirm that on 14 August the guided-missile frigate HMAS Newcastle conducted a joint exercise with HMS Boraida of the Royal Saudi Navy off the Saudi port of Jeddah in the Red Sea. The exercise consisted of “a boarding serial, some basic officer of the watch manoeuvres and replenishment approaches before both ships departed and proceeded independently”. The material says both units were “keen for the interaction” and indications from Saudi Arabia were that the navy would be keen for further exercises “should units be passing through the region in the future”. One of the briefing notes suggests a Saudi commander “repeatedly voiced his interest in more cooperation with Australian naval vessels in the area” and Australia suggested it could provide embedded staff. . [Edited 11/4/18 23:59pm]

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You assume without evidence against the comments and advice of those involved that the sales were of offensive arsenals used against the Yemeni people. Prove it.

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You don't know the difference between exercise of the type mentioned and involvement in assisting with a blockade operation. Yet again you assume without evidence against the comments and advice of those involved that this exercise was in fact a blockade operation. Yes, it was a public relations disaster and the navy should not have done it whilst the government was protesting the blockade. But nothing you posted (other than your opinion) stated the HMAS Newcastle participated in the blockade. This is just your ideological spin.

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Isn't it funny that this, yet again, has nothing to do with the topic at all. Isn't it funny that you have posted article after article that prove my point about Venevuela being an absolute basket case that is so far from being a utopia of any kind that it makes the US look like a functioning society. Isn't it funny that you continue to express love for Fidel Castro and for the poor whilst you excuse Cuba for its government and police backed racist attacks on poor Black Cubans.

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What isn't funny is you still do not have the integrity or courage to apologise for the abhorrent and offensive false accusation that I support imagined future One Nation inspired mass murder sprees. Instead you hide behind bluster, threats and excuses.

If you actually live in Australia, then why are just dredging up old news you found on the internet and not complaining about what is occuring here today?

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A worrying trend here is media, government and some businesses pushing for Australia to act like the US in regards to veterans who fought in actual actions (not your assumed ones) in the Middle East that we never should have been involved with. The Murdoch Press (including the Herald-Sun responsible for the racist anti-Serena cartoon that you were silent on) recently had ads seeking to honour veterans. Virgin Australia has just backed down as a result of Australians complaining about a plan to give veterens priority boarding on flights. Plus other tokenistic efforts like expanding the War Memorial rather than restricting/stopping Australian involvement in wars and helping the veterans with PTSD and other injuries, solving their suicides etc.

Most people in Australia, America, Scandinavia and Canada are not living in conditions like Yemen, Palestine or Congo.
I know our conditions, including yours in America is better than 90% of the rest of the world.
That doesn’t mean you are not justified to be upset about the issues that are affecting you or that you don’t have valid concerns.
The point of this discussion was that in western countries our idea of socialism needs to be world encompassing.
I.E we can’t point to any success in Scandinavia, Canada or even in America without acknowledging how these capitalist economies function and are built off exploiting , killing and subjugating people in places like Yemen and Congo.

Also Australia is not like documentaries or movies you have seen of upper class people living on Bondi beach.
That’s not how it’s like for everyone.
Just like I know that all of America is not like an episode of Glee, Dawson Creek or Beverly hills 90210.

.[Edited 11/5/18 23:01pm]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

I’m not even going to get into racial, gender and class bias of that index.
There is no way Indegenious Australians are higher on such an index than people in America, Germany, Luxemburg or U.K

.[Edited 11/6/18 10:54am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

Interestingly those miserable chain smoking French people are way lower than one would expect.
“La vie c’est Vraiment de la medre”

.[Edited 11/6/18 11:40am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

Australia and USA are top 20. Yemen is 153. We’re a smash hit! Congrats freaky! I’m not even going to get into racial, gender and class bias of that index. There is no way Indegenious Australians are higher on such an index than people in America, Germany, Luxemburg or U.K . [Edited 11/6/18 10:54am]

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As ever you miss the point. You tried to limit people's understanding of what it is like in Australia to just what they see in movies about upper class people living on Bondi Beach as being a false impression. So Freaky asked about a broader measure.

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Firstly what movies about the upper class in Bondi Beach? Can you name such a movie, I can't because there are none. This is because a person who lives in Australia when asked what are the upper class suburbs of Australia would never say Bondi Beach - It is near some upper class places but Bondi is where tourists and backpackers go. Strange you don't know this. Oh well, add it to the list.

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Now to the point you missed. Happiness indexes are a holistic average measure across the whole of a country - including the poorest and least happy. This is why Cuba is not in the list - the sample size in the survey is too small to give reliable data across the whole country. It really is silly say oh yeah but there are people in that country who are not as happy as the others. If Cuba was on list then the happiness index would consider the plight of the poor black people being racially attacked with support of the government and police as well as how happy Cuba's well off are. Do you think the minority black population (20.3%) is as happy as the 40.1% white population?

the U.N ranks Australia number #2 in the world behind Norway on the human development index.
Which measures public health, social wealth and education.
But if only Indegenious people were measured then Australia would instead be ranked #122 on that same index.
According to this report.
http://thestringer.com.au...-KvRRbZWEd

These indexes are racially and class biased.
Maybe not on purpose but they don’t tell the full story or give an actual indication of what these places are actually like.
In the same way that praise of Scandinavia’s economy is always void of acknowledging how Scandinavia’s economy actually works.
Scandinavia is ranked high on the happiness index but the countries whose destruction they profit off like Yemen are at the bottom of the index.

Australia has the lowest suicide rate of the world’s top ten nations but Aboriginal peoples have the world’s highest youth suicide rates.

One in 10 young Indigenous men and one in 20 young Indigenous women report being ‘very sad’ most of the time, Mission Australia survey reveals
The Indigenous leader Tom Calma says he is “shocked” by a Mission Australia survey that found 10% of young Indigenous men and 5% of young Indigenous women rated their usual mental state as “very sad”, compared with just 1% of non-Indigenous people of the same age.

.[Edited 11/7/18 5:46am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

It should also be pointed out that Australia and the U.S also have the highest rate of anti depressant users in the entire world.
You should take that into consideration when viewing their nations highly positioned entries on the happiness index list.

.[Edited 11/7/18 4:02am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

And right now in Brazil, socialist Lula is facing criminal charges because of corruption and the people have elected ultra right winger Bolsonaro as president. Every action leads to a reaction. The only way out of this mess is to stop seeing the world in terms of socialism/capitalism, right/left because that will always lead to: we are good, they are bad.

Go back just two months, and an imprisoned Lula was leading Bolsonaro in the polls, 37.3% to 18.8% - so clearly no-one had told Brazilian voters about the Newtonian mechanical laws they were supposed to be following. What happened was, when Lula was eventually barred from running by Brazil's top electoral court at the start of September, his electoral support failed to transfer to the Workers' Party's replacement candidate, Fernando Haddad. In the end, the politically-motivated show trials by his opponents achieved their aim; it wasn't some kind of cosmic physics restoring a natural balance.

In terms of left/right, socialism/capitalism, etc, I hear this discomfort with such terms a lot, these days. But all they are terms for describing ways of organising society, involving substantial questions about how the economy should be organised, what should be the role of government, how should we manage relations amongst social groups and between countries, etc - in short, what ends do we think are desirable, and what means should we use to achieve them. They inspire loyalty because they have meaningful consequences for people who live in a society. There are blurs and complexities, of course, but I don't think there's anything to be afraid of about these terms. They're just tools to help us make sense of the world.

How would you suggest we make sense of political distinctions, if not by representing these in some kind of linguistic distinctions?

“socialism” and “communism” is the closet political term that for many people expresses and represents “Egalitarianism”
There is no other political ideology that represents this sentiment and vision.

All egalitarian movements have roots in communist philosophy.
W.E.B DuBois who founded the NAACP and who was a prominent civil rights figure was also a communist.
And that makes absolutely perfect sense to me that such an egalitarian quest would be steeped and rooted in a political philosophy such as Marxism and communism.

The LGBT movement was also initially rooted in radical philosophy and Marxism.

Perhaps we should call our ideology and political movement “Egalitarianism”

I’m also comfortable that I refuse to compromise on this.
Because from where we stand compromise means throwing someone else under the bus.
It means sacrificing or selling someone else out just so you can be viewed as “moderate”.

.[Edited 11/8/18 7:31am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

”I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice” - Dr Martin Luther King

If a new so-called centrist party is to be set up, why not call it Denial, or perhaps Hubris? Self-described centrists believe that they are the besieged remnants of political sanity in a world gone mad. To be a centrist, so this story goes, is to be above ideology: pragmatic, focused on “what works”, being grown up. They are the moderate stabilisers, or according to this narrative it is their marginalisation that has opened the way to the extremes. In this centrist worldview, the xenophobic, racist or indeed fascist right are deemed to be politically and morally equivalent to the radical left.

The centrist Vanity Fair writer James Wolcott is among those who has previously savaged an “alt-left” straw man of his own creation. Last November, the comedian Trevor Noah warned anti-Trump protesters not to “become the hate that you’re protesting against”, as though anti-Muslim hatred and the passionate repudiation of it were somehow morally comparable. As the Anti-Defamation League’s Mark Pitcavage has put it, the word “alt-left” was created to create a false equivalence between far right and “anything vaguely left-seeming that they didn’t like. It did not rise organically, and it refers to no actual group or movement or network.” But lo, the “alt-left” bogeyman of the self-described centrists has been appropriated by Donald Trump to apologise for, shield and legitimise fascists and Nazis.

Centrism” is a misleading term which should be abandoned, though a viable alternative term is lacking: bearers of the “centrist” flame regard “neoliberal” or “Blairite” as abusive rather than descriptive terms. Centrism implies non-ideological moderation, and given “left” and “right” are meaningless abstractions for most people, it is a seductive label. But centrists aren’t pragmatists, they’re ideologues, extolling a blend of market liberalism, social liberalism and – more often than not – a hawkish military posture. Claims of moderation in a British context do not readily sit with helping to unleash the murderous, never-ending bloody chaos in Iraq and Libya, it should be said. But it is the economic order centrists defend that produced the insecurity and stagnation which, in turn, laid the foundations for both the ascendancy of the left and its antithesis, the xenophobic right.

I can hear the cries already: to lump the Blair and Cameron era together is as inaccurate as it is offensive. Labour’s progressive achievements – such as the minimum wage, public investment and LGBT rights – should be both defended and extended. But the failure of Labour centrists to regulate the financial sector, to build the housing Britain needed, to adequately reverse the social destruction of Thatcherism – all this sowed seeds of the coming cataclysm. Four years before the crash, wages began to stagnate for the bottom half; for the bottom third, they began to decline, while it remained boomtime for Britain’s triumphalist elite.

Despite their shamefully unchallenged later revision of history, the Tories backed every penny of Labour’s spending until the financial calamity. But then came the Osborne-Cameron-Clegg era of austerity, while Labour’s centrists demanded the party commit to cuts in the name of “fiscal credibility”. Ed Miliband recognised that this consensus was no longer viable, even if he was unable to definitively break from it. The centrists loathe and fear Corbynism, but they were its midwives. Similarly, without a toxic fusion of economic insecurity and xenophobic scapegoating, rightwing populism would have remained confined to the online rants of frothing keyboard warriors.

What is striking about these so-called centrists is they offer little evidence of self-reflection about their plight. Their decline isn’t due to their own failures, but the irrationality and madness of others. They are the grownups, and infants on a sugar-high of populism have taken over. Hillary Clinton lost to a candidate widely dismissed as less likely to win the presidency than an asteroid crashing to Earth. But no blame was attributed to her political outlook: it was all Russian intervention and misogyny, and nothing else.

In Britain, there is growing chatter about a new centrist party. This, at a time when more than 80% of the electorate voted for a left-led Labour party or the Brexiteer Tories, the two parties’ highest combined share of the vote for nearly half a century, in an election in which the anti-Brexit centrist Liberal Democrats flopped.

.[Edited 11/8/18 2:54am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.

”None of you truly believe until he loves for his brother that which he loves for himself” - 40 Hadith Nawawi 13

”Love your neighbor as yourself.” - Mark 12:30-31

”In the Talmud, the rabbinic sage Ben Azzai argues that Judaism’s most important principle is b’tzelem Elohim, treating all human beings with the dig- nity appropriate to a creature made in the image of God”

The intersection of politics and spirituality.
At its core it may be an inseparable issue.

.[Edited 11/8/18 6:18am]

"It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non-violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection" – Lesley Hazleton on the first muslim, the prophet.